


Torchwood, Series 5: The Reboot, Finale

by logos00



Series: Torchwood Series 5: The Reboot [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Children of Earth Fix-It, F/M, Gen, M/M, Reboot, Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 05:44:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3638934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logos00/pseuds/logos00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to “Torchwood, Series 5: The Reboot, Episode 1.” Four years after Miracle Day, while attempting to cure Rex's immortality, Jack and Gwen accidentally change the past and land themselves in an alternate 2015 where no one died and the old Team Torchwood is still going strong. They struggle to fit back in. Jack is thrilled to see Ianto again, until he learns that in this reality their relationship is long since over. Gwen is devastated to find out that Anwen was never born, and she’s working in secret to try and change the timeline again. Owen and Toshiko are married now. Oh, and Jack may or may not be able to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Torchwood, Series 5: The Reboot, Finale

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the great feedback on part one! I originally pictured it as the first episode of my dream series 5, leaving the reader to imagine how the conflicts it set up might play out over 12 more episodes. Then some nice people asked for a sequel and I had some ideas I wanted to use, so I wrote this. I call it the Finale, but it’s only the second of two parts and the events follow shortly after part one

Somewhere in the darkest hours of the night, the Torchwood Hub is silent. The lights are dimmed. The fountain is still gently cascading and a constant stream of data runs across the screen attached to the rift monitor, but nothing else moves. Desks are empty. Even Myfanwy sleeps.

A deep, low rumbling noise starts from somewhere in the walls, and slowly grows. Objects begin shaking. In the greenhouse, a glass beaker threatens to come crashing down. From his bed under his office, Jack sniffs, but his eyes remain closed. The rumbling stops.

Jack rolls over and falls back asleep.

 

The huge round door rolls open, the warning bells sound, and Gwen returns to her old workplace. She takes it all in with a deep breath, then heads straight for the coffee station.

“Hey, you, welcome back!” Ianto says cheerfully as she walks up. He hands her the mug he was preparing for himself and starts making another. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine, I’m fine,” she replies, taking a sip. “It was good to spend some time at home with Rhys, start getting to know my sons. They’re lovely.” 

“I know,” he nods. 

It’s disconcerting that Ianto remembers more of their lives than she does.

“I mean, of course, I haven’t forgotten about Anwen, not for a moment, but it’s wonderful to have them as well,” she says. “And now, I’m ready to get back to work and start moving forward.”

“Good, I’m glad. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No, Ianto, thanks,” she says. “But you know, with everything that’s gone on, I never got a chance to say, it’s _really_ good to see you again.”

“Thank you.”

“Truly,” she hugs him. “I missed you a great deal.”

“I’m sorry you went through that,” he says gently, hugging her back.

“Yes, well, it was a difficult thing,” she says as she pulls away. Her eyes flick coyly up to his face and then back down at her coffee. “More so for Jack than for me, though.”

“Don’t do that, Gwen,” he’s firm but not unkind.

“Do what?”

“Don’t come in here and try to play matchmaker. I’m not interested.”

“I wasn’t…”

“Yes you were.”

“Okay, maybe a little, but would it be so bad if I did?”

Ianto sighs. He really doesn’t want to have this conversation, but it’s not like Gwen will just let it go. Better to get it over with.

“That wasn’t a good time in my life, Gwen,” he tries to muster as much dignity as he can. “I was lonely, I’d just had a terrible loss, and I let myself get into something that… wasn’t good for me. _Electrifying_ though it was. He and I want different things. Took me a while to figure that out and I’m not keen to go backwards.”

“Alright, I understand,” she says. He nods appreciatively and starts to walk away. “But you should know,” she can’t quite drop it yet and he pauses to hear her out. “That it wasn’t like that in our version of things. At least, not by the end.”

“I heard,” Ianto is now officially irritated. “Apparently by the end I was so far gone I thought I was in love with him. Thank god I’m smarter in this timeline.” He turns to go again but then stops. Another thought has occurred to him. “Also alive,” he adds. 

“Gwen!” Jack calls out as he approaches them. Ianto shifts uncomfortably but his escape route is now blocked.

“Welcome back,” Jack hugs Gwen. “Ready to get back in the swing of things? I’ve got some stuff up in my office for you.”

She nods. He stops to fix himself a coffee first.

“Morning, Ianto,” he says with a little too much enthusiasm. Even for Jack.

“Good morning,” the other man replies stiffly.

“I like that tie,” Jack says.

“Thank you.” No further conversation is forthcoming.

“Okay, Gwen, lets get to it!” When he’s far enough away he rolls his eyes at himself. ‘Tie?’ he mouths silently.

Once he and Gwen are back in his office, she launches right in with what she considers to be the question of the day.

“So, have you figured it out yet?”

“What?” he asks.

“The whole immortality thing! Do you know yet if you can die or not?”

“No, and I’m not exactly going to shoot myself in the head in order to find out.”

“There are less drastic measures, Jack,” she says impatiently. She goes to the drawer where he always keeps a few spare weapons and pulls out a hunting knife. “Here, put out your arm.”

He leans back in his chair. “I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Jack, if you heal right away you’re still immortal. Let me cut you.”

“Gwen, I love you and I trust you, but I’m not letting you take a knife to me.”

“Then do it yourself.” She plunks the knife down on the desk in front of him. He doesn’t even look at it; he just picks it up and sets it aside.

“Maybe later. Right now I need you to get started on something. We’ve been getting strange reports of disturbances all over the city. I need you do some investigating, find out what the authorities know, that kind of thing.”

“What sort of disturbances?” She’s all business now.

“Nothing major yet. Tremors. Noises. Some minor property damage. We wouldn’t even concern ourselves but it’s happening a lot and just in the last few days. And it’s not an earthquake or any kind of geological event. We checked that.” He leans in. “It’s a small thing now but I think it’s growing.”

“I’ll get started,” she says, but she doesn’t actually go. “And how are you doing, Jack?” she asks instead. “Are you settling back in alright?”

“It’s weird,” he says.

“So weird,” she agrees.

“But good.”

She nods. Then she adds, more intimately, “and how about the Ianto situation? How are you handling that?”

He shrugs casually. “It’s fine. I understand how he feels.”

“Oh, who do you think you’re talking to, Jack Harkness?” she scolds. “It can’t possibly be ‘fine’.”

“No,” he drops the brave face. “But he’s alive, Gwen. And he’s here. And that’s a lot.”

 

It’s not until late morning that she finally spots her moment. Jack, Owen, and Ianto have left to interview some witnesses and Toshiko is buried in her research. No one sees Gwen slip away from her desk and down to the archives.

Once inside she searches the shelves, trying to remember Ianto’s filing system. She doesn’t have a lot of time, either. Finally she spots it, the metal case marked “Ruellean Warp Calibrator.” She pops the case open and there it is, the alien artefact that they thought would make Rex and Jack mortal but instead put them all in this alternate timeline. The one without her daughter in it.

She pulls out her phone and snaps a few pictures of it. Then she takes the device out of its case and puts it in a bag she’s brought with her. She puts the case back where she found it and quietly leaves. It isn’t until after she closes the door that the shelves rattle slightly. The air in one spot starts to rotate strangely, eventually swirling around and spiraling open like a tiny whirlwind. It moves around the room a little, then closes up again.

Gwen has just stashed the bag away back at her desk when Toshiko walks up. She tries to look innocent.

“Hello, Gwen,” Tosh says, not noticing anything unusual. “How’s your first day back?”

“Good, it’s good,” she answers. “Odd.”

“Of course. We’re all adjusting a little bit to the new normal.”

Gwen nods, still trying to appear relaxed.

“Listen,” Tosh continues. “I know it’s your first day but it is Tuesday and I was wondering if we were going to the bar tonight?”

“What, is the whole team planning an outing?” Gwen asks brightly.

Tosh looks at her strangely. “No, it’s…,” then it dawns on her. “Oh right, that started in… I forgot. Sorry. You and I have kind of a standing date on Tuesdays, just the girls for drinks. We’ve been doing it for years, but I guess not that many years.”

“Oh, that sounds nice.” 

“So, are you up for it tonight?” Tosh says enthusiastically. “We can… well, I’ll show you our usual when we get there.”

“I’m sorry, Tosh, I don’t think I can. Lots to do. It’s a lovely idea, though, maybe next week?”

“Sure, of course,” Tosh says kindly. “Next week.”

Gwen heads away and so she doesn’t see the disappointment on Toshiko’s face.

 

When the others get back, Jack calls a conference.

“There is definitely something going on out there, but we don’t know what. Tosh, were you able to make any headway?”

“I should have some numbers for you by this afternoon,” she says.

“Thank you. Gwen? Do you have any new information for us?”

“I’…..m still working on it,” she says uncomfortably. She’d have more results if she’d been spending this time doing her job. She does her best to cover. “Following up on a few leads now, but I can’t really say anything definite yet.”

“Okay,” Jack says. “Let me know when you can. In the meantime, I think we should check in with UNIT and make sure this isn’t happening anywhere else outside of Cardiff.”

“I’ll give them a call when we’re done here,” Owen says.

Jack is taken aback by this offer. “No, that’s okay, I’ll take care of it,” he says.

Now it’s Owen’s turn to be taken aback. “Oh, well, it’s just that lately I’ve been acting as kind of our liaison with UNIT. Free you up for other things.”

“Well, I appreciate that, but I want to talk to them anyway and find out the latest on Rex.”

Owens wants to keep pressing the issue but Gwen speaks up first.

“Yes, how is Rex?” she wants to know.

“Last I heard, fine. Angry, but fine.”

“Has anyone tried cutting him with a knife?”

“What?” Ianto asks, horrified.

“Well, if Jack can’t be bothered to test out if he’s mortal,” she says sarcastically, “maybe Rex will.”

“Oh right,” Ianto gets it. “To see if it heals immediately. That’s actually a good idea, Jack.”

“Not right now,” Jack brushes it away. “We have to figure this thing out before it gets any worse. Get to work, everyone, thank you.”

“But…” Ianto continues.

“Dismissed.” Jack cuts him off.

 

It’s a busy but fruitless day and by the end of it they’re no closer to any answers. Toshiko finally finds a free minute to catch up with her husband.

“Did you speak to Jack about working with UNIT?” she asks.

“No, I got cut off, didn’t I?” Owen replies sarcastically.

“You should go try again,” she urges. “You worked so hard to get him... well... the other him, to trust you with that responsibility. You shouldn’t just have to go back to zero.”

“Well, a lot of things around here are starting over from zero, aren’t they?” he says bitterly. “Or two-zero-zero-eight, to be more precise. Can’t exactly dump seven years of history directly into their brains, can we? Or take out the seven years of shit they’ve been through.”

“No,” Tosh agrees sadly.

“Alright, I’ve done all I can do today, I’m heading home.” He grabs for his jacket.

“I’ll come with you.”

Owen stops short. “On a Tuesday, with Gwen back? What about your sacred tradition?”

Then he sees the look in her eyes and he realizes. His face darkens. “No, really? That too?”

Tosh shrugs in resignation.

“Did you tell her?”

“Yes, but she’s busy.”

“Tosh…” This is not okay to him.

“It’s alright,” she stops him. “Really. We’ll go next week and start a new tradition.”

Owen scowls as he follows her out the door.

 

“Jack, there’s been another explosion,” Toshiko calls out across the Hub a week later. Everyone comes running to her station.

“Where?” Jack asks.

“Hotspot number 15,” she replies. “No people around, fortunately.”

“How big of an explosion?”

“Big enough. If it happens again in a populated area, we’re probably looking at some fatalities.”

“Is it just this and the other one?” Gwen interjects.

“Yes, so far, just the two, but both of them in locations where we’ve recorded the disturbances.”

Ianto speaks next. “Any pattern?”

“Not that I can tell,” Tosh answers. “Two isn’t much to develop a pattern on.”

“So,” Jack launches in. “For several days we have tremors, recurring on and off in numerous locations around the city. The tremors get more severe, and now there’ve been two explosions? We have to assume this is only going to keep escalating.”

“We can’t possibly keep people clear of all those areas, Jack.” Gwen says. “What are we going to do?”

“Stop them,” he answers, as if it’s that easy. “Tosh, keep running the data, try to work up some kind of predictive model. Owen and I will go around to all the hotspots again, see if we can find anything.”

“But you don’t know which ones could blow at any minute!” Gwen says.

“No, we don’t.”

“Want me to come with you?” she asks.

“No, I need you to keep working those leads I gave you. Have a report ready by the time we get back.”

“I can go,” Ianto says.

Jack stops for just a beat. “No, we need to stay under the radar. People are already asking too many questions. The fewer of us out there, the better.”

“But it’s a lot of ground to cover, it would be faster…”

“We got this, Ianto. Owen, be ready to leave in two minutes.” Jack strides away towards his office. Ianto follows right behind. He lets loose as soon as they’re out of earshot. 

“You know I’m not just the coffee boy anymore, right Jack?” he says angrily.

“What?”

“Yes, I still make the coffee, because I’m brilliant at it, but I can do a bit more than just stay in here all the time. I’ve been doing field work for a long while now. Despite what you may remember.”

“Did I say you couldn’t?” Jack draws himself up defensively.

“Just now you did, yes.”

“Any other times you feel I haven’t allowed you outside?”

“Well, there was yesterday when all four of you went to look into the first explosion without me. And the alien weapon you retrieved last week _by yourself_ when no one else but me was around.”

Jack shakes his head. “You came out in the field with us right after the tremors started!” 

“Interviewing witness,” Ianto scoffs. “Big challenge there. I can do real work, too.”

Now Jack is annoyed. “Interviewing witnesses IS real work, Ianto, even if it’s not the most exciting part. I’m sorry you’re unhappy, but right now I have to go. We can talk about this more when I get back.”

Ianto scowls after him as he sweeps on his greatcoat and leaves with Owen. Gwen and Toshiko go back to work, but he doesn’t really have anything to do. Sighing deeply, he goes to make some coffee. 

“Here you are,” he says bitterly as he delivers a mug to Tosh. “Since this is apparently all I’m good for now.”

“He has a point about keeping a low profile,” she tries to be conciliatory.

“That doesn’t explain all the other times,” he snips. “Or haven’t you noticed? He treats all of us like we’re beginners again.”

“That can be true, sometimes. But I don’t think that’s the reason why he wants you to stay in here right now.”

“What do you mean?”

She looks up at him. He really doesn’t get it. “Because it’s not safe,” she explains gently. 

“Oh.” He hadn’t thought of that. “He doesn’t mind taking Owen out, though, does he?”

“No, but that’s different, isn’t it?” Tosh goes back to her work. Duly chastened, Ianto heads off to find some other way to make himself useful.

 

At hotspot number 15, Jack and Owen pull up in the SUV and get out. There’s six-foot wide hole in the ground there, with clumps of dirt and rock scattered about. Owen paces off the perimeter, makes a few notes, then bends down to examine the ground more closely. He notices a stone that looks strangely different from the others and he picks it up.

“Here, look at this, Jack,” he says.

Jack takes the stone and turns it over in his hand. It’s thin and flat and has black smudges on it, like someone has marked it with paint. He takes an electronic device out of his pocket and scans it.

“It’s alien in origin,” he tells Owen.

“I found another,” Owen responds. “And here’s one more.”

“Let’s gather them up,” Jack says as he comes over to scan the second stone.

Owen laughs when he sees what Jack is using. “Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in years!” He stands and goes over to the toolbox they brought, pulling out another device. “Try this one, mate. Tosh worked it up a while back.”

“I’m fine with this one,” Jack says stiffly. “Tried and true.”

“Yeah, but the new one…”

“Do you want my job, Owen?” Jack retorts. “Is this a new thing since I got here or have you been undermining the other me for years?”

“I’m not trying to undermine you, Jack,” Owen replies, annoyed. “I’m just trying to show you the ropes.”

“And I don’t NEED to be shown the ROPES, Owen!” Jack snaps. “I’ve been doing this job longer than you’ve been alive. From before your grandparents were born. Just because I’ve missed a few things doesn’t mean you suddenly know better all the time. Seven little years on a different track is NOTHING to someone like me.”

“WELL IT’S SOMETHING TO THE REST OF US!” Owen yells back. “It’s a bloody long time’s worth of hard work and accomplishments and because you don’t remember it, none of it exists to you! How do you think that feels? You don’t respect me, you don’t respect Tosh, you keep Ianto in a fucking _glass case_. No, I don’t want your job but I do want _you_ to start doing it properly!”

Jack is stunned, even a little hurt. “Is that how you see it?” he asks.

“Pretty much.”

There’s a long pause. 

“I do respect you, Owen. All of you. It’s just…” He doesn’t continue the thought. “So how does this new device work?” he asks instead.

 

Back at her desk, Gwen hits send on the report Jack asked for. Then she pulls up some other documents and frowns at them for a while. Taking a small notebook out of her pocket, she makes a few notes with a pencil, shakes her head, and erases them again. She glances over to where Tosh is hard at work. Gwen puts the notebook back in her pocket and sidles over.

“Hi, Tosh, am I interrupting?” she says.

“Just a second, Gwen,” she replies, tapping a few more keys. Then she faces her friend. “There, that’s the best I can do for now, just have to wait for another… for more data. Did you need something?”

“No, not really, just thought we could chat. I’m also done working for the moment. I was just wondering, I saw you’ve been building that contraption over there,” she points at Tosh’s latest project, “and I wondered what it does.”

Tosh lights up. “Oh, it’s just a little thought I had. I’m trying to send signals through the rift and see if we can get back any information from the other side. It’s a very interesting theory and I’m getting quite close to success. Let me show you.”

She picks up the object and begins excitedly describing the whole process. Gwen forces a smile and tries to look attentive. The explanation goes on for a long time but Gwen listens to the whole thing.

“Amazing, Tosh,” she says when the other woman is finally done. “Just brilliant. So how do you know which rift events are associated with which signals? Does it tie into their energy signatures somehow?”

“Oh yes, if there’s a particular signature I would use that as an identifier.”

“And how does that work?”

“Well, you see…” She stops talking and her eyes narrow. “Strange that you’re asking me that,” she says.

“What do you mean?” Gwen is all innocence.

“You just let me go on all that time and now you want to know about energy signatures? Why don’t you just ask your real question?”

Gwen looks offended. “I’m sorry, Tosh. I was just trying to take an interest, start reconnecting a little more. But if you’re not interested I’ll leave you alone.” She starts to go.

“Not so fast, Gwen,” Tosh grabs her arm. “You want to know about the energy signature from your event, the one that changed the timeline.”

Gwen doesn’t answer.

“You never gave up on getting your daughter back,” Toshiko gasps. “Of course you didn’t. Giving in just like that. We’re all so blind.”

“No, Tosh, really, I was just asking, to be polite.”

“Jack told you, we all told you that if you try to change history again, you put us all at risk.”

Gwen finally breaks. “I’m not going to hurt anyone, I just want everybody in one place, together!” 

“Still…”

“Tosh. It’s my child. I would never do anything stupid or reckless, but I have to at least try to get her back.” Gwen’s eyes are unyielding and Tosh softens. 

“Only I’m not smart enough to do it on my own,” Gwen sighs. “I’ve got an analysis of the calibrator and a start on idea, but I don’t have the tech skills to see it through. Not remotely. I thought if I asked you some questions, you might solve it for me without realizing what we were talking about. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell Jack.”

“And what is this crazy idea you’ve come up with?” Tosh asks.

“I don’t think I should say.”

“Tell me,” Tosh insists. “Or I tell Jack.”

“Fine, here,” Gwen pulls out the notebook and shows her a sketch.

“That’s not bad,” Tosh says, impressed. “But you’re right that on your own you couldn’t… I’ve been thinking about this anyway and…”

Toshiko stops and considers the situation. Short of locking her in a holding cell or fully retconning her, there’s no way to make Gwen back down from this. Someone should at least be keeping an eye on her. And it is an interesting challenge, hypothetically speaking.

“Alright, here’s my offer. I’ll keep your secret, and I’ll even help you, but when I say stop we stop. We might be able to get your daughter into this timeline, but we’re not doing anything unless we’re sure it’s safe. Deal?”

Gwen’s eyes light up. “Really, Tosh? Oh really? That would be, amazing. I know you can do it, too,” she gushes, “you’re such a genius!”

“Okay, okay, but we need a space to work. We can’t exactly do it here. Or at either one of our homes.” She thinks for a moment. “I think I know of an empty warehouse that will meet our needs.”

“Brilliant,” Gwen replies. “But we’ll also need a cover story for why we’re off by ourselves.”

“Well,” Toshiko points out. “It _is_ Tuesday.”

 

Up in the greenhouse, Jack is examining one of the stones from the explosion site under a bright lamp. Tosh stands by.

“These markings must mean something,” he tells her.

“I don’t immediately recognize them,” she responds, “but I’m running a search subroutine now. I’d like to scan and catalog them all first, though.”

“Agreed. I have some readings from this,” he hands her the device Owen gave him earlier.

“That will help.”

“Good job with that, by the way,” he looks at her with unexpected intensity. “Good job with everything.”

“Thank you,” she says, a little confused but mostly pleased.

He leaves her to it and heads for the autopsy room, where Owen is doing routine maintenance on his instruments. Jack comes down the stairs.

“I’ve got your wife working on those stones now,” he says. “She says the information we gathered earlier will help.”

“Good,” Owen replies simply, picking up a scalpel and wiping it clean.

“And when you have a chance, it’s probably a good idea for you to update UNIT with our progress.”

Owen pauses in his movement. “Okay,” he says.

“Listen, Owen, I have another assignment for you, if you’re up for it. I have a special project in mind, and you’re the best man for the job. Top secret. Will you help me out?”

“What is it?”

Jack sits down and starts rolling up his sleeve. “First we have to draw some of my blood.”

 

Ianto sits at the conference table with dozen or so of the thin flat stones spread out in front of him. All of them have different black markings. He studies them carefully, then moves a few of them around. He frowns and moves them back.

Gwen and Jack come in, with Gwen carrying a small leather bag.

“Here’s the latest batch,” she says, carefully pulling out several more stones. “All scanned and cataloged and ready to add to the pile.”

“Please don’t put them in a pile,” Ianto sighs. “I do have a system here.”

“Any luck yet?” Jack asks.

“No. I’ve arranged them into a few recognizable shapes, but I can’t be sure I’m not just inventing patterns.”

“Haven’t made anything naughty, have you?” Gwen teases.

“That’ll be when I take my turn,” Jack interjects, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, my turn should almost be up. I’m not getting anywhere.”

“And you really think they all fit together somehow?” Gwen asks Jack.

“I hope so. These have turned up in the middle of almost every explosion so far. Someone must be trying to send us a message.”

"Can't be a good message, the way they're going about it," she observes.

“We just need more pieces to be able to find out,” Ianto says in frustration.

“Don’t be in too much of a hurry to get more,” Jack warns.

“Right, sorry," he says remorsefully. "How are they?”

“The father didn’t make it,” Gwen tells him. “But they say the little girl will be fine.”

“Except that she may not walk again,” Jack adds. They all take a moment.

“I guess all the more reason to keep at it.” Ianto reaches for the new pieces and starts adding them to the existing group.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Gwen says as she goes.

Jack stays behind and sits next to Ianto. “Maybe it would help if we talked it through,” he says.

“Alright, well, do you think these aliens speak English? Because this grouping could form the word ‘it’.” He shows him.

“It’s possible. Some alien races have been known to communicate with us in our language.”

“Wonder they couldn’t just send us an email.”

Jack laughs. “Yes, that would be more convenient. But you should take a break now. Go think about something else for a while and let me take a crack at this.”

“Fine.” Ianto stands up and right away hisses in pain. He rotates his left shoulder back and forth, trying to work it back into a comfortable position.

“Does that still bother you?” Jack asks.

“It’s my shoulder,” he answers. “I dislocated it once and now it hurts if I sit still too long.”

“I know,” Jack says. “Want me to take care of it for you?”

“How?” 

“Sit back down and take off your jacket.”

Ianto hesitates for a second, but he removes his suit coat and sits.

“Okay, now, lean forward a little bit,” Jack says. Ianto complies. Jack stands behind him and presses his fingertips along the shoulder blade, finding the sore spot. He rubs around the clenched muscles, trying to loosen them. Ianto is tensing up under this, which is not helping.

“Relax,” Jack tells him. “Breath. Close your eyes.”

“You’re very close to where it hurts, Jack,” he says nervously.

“I know. But this’ll work better if you trust me.”

Ianto closes his eyes and tries to let go, tries not to flinch when...

“Ow!” he yelps as Jack presses in on the one specific place under the bone and something cracks. He jumps up, startled, angry. Then he realizes the pain is gone. He moves the shoulder around.

“That’s amazing Jack!” he says. “It feels completely better.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So,” Ianto wonders tentatively, “you’ve done that before?”

Jack nods. “Usually after you’d done something reckless with it. There was this one time…” he cuts himself off as his face breaks out in a wicked grin. He ducks his head down to hide it.

“What?” Ianto asks.

“I’m sorry, that’s probably not an appropriate story to tell you,” he responds, but he can’t stop the twinkling in his eyes. 

Ianto swallows hard. “Oh,” he says.

Jack goes back to examining the stones as Ianto stands there, awkward. Confused.

“Listen, Jack….”

“Jack, it’s happened again,” he's cut off by Tosh’s voice over the comms. “You’d better come see.”

They go running up to the main hall. Everyone is looking at the data coming in on the latest explosion.

“Anyone hurt this time?” Ianto asks the second they get there.

“No, we got lucky again that it’s an isolated area,” Tosh tells him. “Abandoned factory site. But it looks to be worse than the others. Much more violent.”

“Maybe you should wait to go this time, Jack,” Gwen says, concerned.

“And risk someone else finding the stones, if there are any? No, we leave now. Ianto, you’re with me,” Jack says.

Gwen, Tosh, and Owen all give him a look.

“What?” He refuses to acknowledge that he’s said anything unusual.

“Coming,” Ianto says briskly and they leave.

 

The crater in the middle of the ground does look much larger than the others. It also yields more stones than any of the previous explosions. Maybe enough to finally solve the puzzle. But they’re scattered pretty far and wide and before long Jack and Ianto find themselves more than a hundred yards from the car, right next to the empty building.

BOOM! A plume of rock and dirt shoots up from the other side of the lot, between them and the SUV. BOOM! Another shoots up, this time much closer.

“RUN!” Jack yells and they both hightail it towards a fire escape that runs three stories up the side of the building. Ianto makes it to the stairs first with Jack right behind. They start running up to what they hope is safety.

BOOM! Everything rattles and Jack loses his footing, even as Ianto has almost made it to the top. Jack picks himself up and is most of the way there when BOOM!!!! a hole in the side of the building blows out, ripping the staircase free and flinging it and Jack across the yard. Ianto is just able to make a final leap onto the roof. 

“Jack!” he yells, but there’s too much dust to see anything. He looks around him but there’s no exit, no drainpipe, no way down. “Jack!!” he yells again.

The dust finally clears and he sees the other man sprawled out on the ground far below, not moving. A piece of the stairway has fallen across his chest. 

Ianto hits the comm. “Jack’s down! Jack’s down!” he yells in a panic to whoever might be on the other end. “I can’t get to him, I’m trapped and he’s down there.”

“What do you mean, ‘down’?” Gwen’s frightened voice answers. “Is he okay?”

“I don’t know!” Ianto chokes.

“Okay, Ianto, stay calm,” Tosh enters the conversation. “Just relax and stay put, we’ll come to you.”

“Gwen,” he demands. “Did you ever get him to check if he heals? Do we know if he’s… if he can…”

“I don’t know, Ianto, he never said. Tosh?”

“If he did, I don’t know about it. But I’m sure he’ll be fine, Ianto. We’re on our way.”

Ianto runs around the perimeter of the roof, looking for some kind of foothold to get down. Eventually he finds one and scrambles over the edge. He moves too quickly, losing his grip and falling the last six feet, hard. He picks himself right back up and runs over to Jack.

It doesn’t look like he’s breathing.

Ianto pulls the metal pieces away and drops to his knees. He puts his ear to Jack’s chest, listening. “Oh please please please.” But there’s nothing there. He sits back up.

“Come on, Jack. You can do this.” He fidgets painfully, hopefully, as nothing happens. He tries listening to Jack’s chest again. Tears are forming in his eyes.

“HUUUUOOOAAAAAA,” Jack suddenly heaves, knocking Ianto over sideways and sending him tumbling into the dirt.

“Well,” Jack smiles rakishly. “I guess that answers that question.”

“Stand down, Jack’s awake,” Ianto says into the comm as he picks himself up off the ground. He brushes himself off and tries to gather his wits.

Jack is already over it. “We should get out of here before anything else blows up.” He stands and starts heading towards the SUV. 

“You bastard!” Ianto says as he runs to catch up. “Why couldn’t you have just found out on your own weeks ago? Do you know what you just put me through?”

“I’m sorry, Ianto,” he answers lightly. “But I’m fine now.”

Ianto grabs him by the arm and spins him around. “No really, you scared the hell out of me,” he says, furious.

Now Jack truly feels bad. “I’m sorry, you’re right, that was selfish of me.”

Ianto is only somewhat pacified. “Then why did you do it?”

Jack isn’t sure why. Until now he hasn’t wanted to think about it too much. “I guess it was kind of nice not knowing,” he finally says pensively. “Thinking I might be normal again. Or maybe I wasn’t. Maybe I do get to go on forever and see all the wonders of the universe, or maybe I get to live a regular life with the people I love and go when they do. I didn’t want either dream to end.”

Ianto’s heart is breaking a little. “I see.”

“But now we know. I really am sorry I upset you, Ianto.”

“Jack,” he says and then stops. He’s not sure he wants to know the answer to his next question, but he doesn’t think he’ll get another chance to ask it. “You and… the other me. Wasn’t that a bit of a problem? The fact that you keep going and never age and me, if I’m lucky, I’ll grow old and one day I’ll die?”

“Yes, we talked about that.”

“And what did we say?”

“You said we should make the most of the time we have.”

That’s more than Ianto can take and he’s kissing Jack, full and deep. Jack responds hungrily, almost animalistically, like it’s his first drink of water after wandering in the desert forever. Ianto is overwhelmed but not backing down. After a while Jack gets control of himself and pulls away. It might be the most heroic thing he’s ever done.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asks seriously.

“No,” Ianto replies with a sly smile. “But I’ll give it a go if you will.”

“Works for me,” Jack says and they’re back to kissing. Neither one considers that they should probably get to safety before doing this.

“Ianto,” Jack says when they come up for air. He struggles to speak over the lump in his throat. “Ianto Jones, I love you. And don’t.” He puts a hand on Ianto’s just-opening mouth. “Don’t say anything back, not yet. If ever. But I didn’t say it when I should have, and I’m not letting another minute go by without saying it now. I love you.”

Ianto puts a hand on his cheek and kisses him again, gently this time. Just then Jack’s phone starts buzzing. He sees that it’s Gwen, no doubt wondering what the hell is going on.

“Duty calls,” he tells Ianto, grinning wickedly. “But later, I have some things to refresh your memory on.”

Ianto’s eyebrows shoot up.

 

If anything, the additional pieces make it harder to solve.

"So many combinations..." Ianto groans.

Tosh silently counts them then does a calculation in her head. "It would take us years to try them all," she says. 

"While the whole city blows to bits," Owen shakes his head.

“Thank god I sent Rhys and the boys away,” Gwens says as she picks up one of the stones. She looks at it for the millionth time. "Whoever they are, they went to all this trouble to send us a message, you think they'd make it a little easier to work it out. They should have numbered the pieces or something."

Jack's head snaps up. "Gwen, that's brilliant! They've got to be sequenced some way. We just need to find out how.”

They spring into action, trying everything they can think of to determine the pattern. X-Rays. Molecular scanning. UV light. Even lemon juice. It’s not till Owen is rinsing off one of the pieces that he notices several small hash marks. He dips another in the water and a different quantity of hash marks appears. He rolls his eyes.

“It’s just water,” he tells the others in disgust. “The numbers show up if you get them wet."

They immerse the pieces in a shallow pan and start arranging them in the right order. When they're done, three words have formed, with a few stones left over.

"'Give it back'?" Gwen quotes. "Give what back?"

"We're still missing some pieces," Jack says grimly. "Looks like we’ll just have to wait for the next explosion to get the rest of the message. Good work, everyone."

As they all start to go, Owen catches Jack's eye. He tilts his head in the direction of the autopsy room. Jack nods in acknowledgement. No one else notices.

Outside in the hall, Gwen catches up to Toshiko. She checks that Ianto has already gone far enough ahead and then starts in. 

“Okay, I’ve taken the calibrator to the warehouse, along with the other things you asked for,” she says. “What’s next?”

“We need to take it apart and find the component that alters personal frequencies. That has to be the piece that triggered the rift and created the timeline change. We have to modify it so we can program in a specific energy signature. But we still have a long way to go before we know how to retrieve your daughter.”

“Still, that’s wonderful, Tosh. When can we start?”

“I think Owen will believe we went shopping over lunch, don’t you?”

“It’s a date.”

 

The next morning Gwen is at the Hub extra early, catching up on things that didn’t get done while she and Tosh were off at the warehouse. As she moves to a different computer she spots a piece of dark red fabric hanging off a piece of nearby equipment. She reaches up to grab for it and finds that it’s a necktie. Only one of the Torchwood men would wear such a lovely colour.

Ianto walks by right then and startles when he sees her.

“Gwen! You’re here early.”

“You too. Is this yours?” She holds out the tie.

“Yes, thank you,” he says uncomfortably as he takes it from her.

“It was up there,” she points. “What do you mean, throwing your clothes around the Hub like that?” She means it as a joke but when she says it out loud she hears how it sounds. Then she notices Ianto’s cheeks approaching the shade of the tie. Her face breaks out in a grin.

“Ianto…,” she asks mischievously, “what have you been up to?”

He turns on his heel and walks off without responding.

She glances up and sees Jack watching them stoically from his office. Her eyes beg him for an answer the question on her mind. He just raises one eyebrow and turns away.

She claps giddily to herself.

 

Tosh and Owen show up a little while later with more stones.

“I got an alert that there was another event,” she explains. “So we went and looked into it ourselves, and found these.”

“Great,” Jack says. “Let’s hope they give us some answers.”

In short order everyone is gathered around the table to review the finished puzzle. The last pieces form the picture of an object, obviously the ‘it’ that they’re supposed to give back. They all recognize what it is.

“But how?” Ianto asks. “Is there a drop box or something?”

“First things first,” Jack says. “Go get it out of the archives.”

Tosh and Gwen give each other a terrified look. Ianto turns to go.

“Wait!” Gwen calls out. “You can’t get it from the archives, Ianto.”

“Why not?”

“Because the Ruellean Warp Calibrator isn’t there,” she says. 

Jack’s head whips around. “What did you do, Gwen?” he snaps.

“I’ve been working on an idea…”

“TO CHANGE THE TIMELINE WHEN YOU SWORE YOU WERE DONE WITH THIS??” he yells. “How could you, Gwen?”

“I was just looking into it, I wasn’t going to actually do anything without telling you!”

“And how can I believe that when you’ve been sneaking around by yourself all this time?”

“Jack…” she starts.

“That’s not entirely true,” Tosh interrupts.

“What?” 

“She hasn’t been doing it by herself, Jack.”

“WHAT?” his head is about to explode.

“TOSH!” Owen is equally shocked.

“She was going to do it anyway, Jack. I thought it was better if she didn’t try to do it alone.”

“I can’t believe this,” Jack shakes his head and drops into a chair.

“We’ve been working on it at an off-site location,” Tosh explains. “Obviously, we’ll go there now and retrieve it. After we put it back together.”

“I should say so,” Jack bites off every word. They both get up.

“I’m really sorry, Jack,” Gwen is sincerely regretful.

“Just go,” he spins his chair away in disgust, then turns back. “Wait.” He stands. The women stop in their tracks.

“I need to know that you’re going to do the right thing here, Gwen,” he says coldly. “Your plan was crazy to begin with but we get rid of the calibrator and it’s over for certain. You have to be willing to let it go for real this time. We all make sacrifices.”

She wants to be angry at this accusation but she knows she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. “I know the job, Jack,” she says with dignity. “I know what’s at stake and I won’t let you down. If we knew this was what they wanted all along, I’d have given it up in a heartbeat. I hope you know that.”

He does know, but he’s not quite ready to forgive her yet. “Get going you two,” he says instead.

They leave while both Owen and Ianto decide they have urgent things to do in other parts of the Hub. Jack stalks off to his office to try and cool down. He’s just about fully distracted himself with some paperwork when he hears a rumbling noise. He looks up from his desk and sees everything around him start to shake.

He gets up to run but one of the glass walls blows, throwing shards all over the room. He dives under his desk to wait it out while the rumbling gets louder and everything comes crashing down around the Hub.

 

The same tremors are happening at the warehouse as the girls pull up. They struggle their way out of the vehicle and stumble into the building. There they find the pieces of the calibrator scattered all about. Thankfully Tosh tagged them all when she disassembled it.

Gwen crawls around the shaking floor to gather the pieces, ducking the occasional piece of falling debris, while Tosh works to put it all back together. Tosh slips at one point, sending a part flying. Gwen catches it in midair and brings it over, almost losing her footing. She holds the device still while Tosh finishes her work.

“There, all set,” Toshiko finally says. “What now?”

The ground shifts and Gwen stumbles again. “It’s getting worse,” she says. “I don’t think we can make it back on these roads.”

Suddenly they hear a whooshing noise and a spiralling vortex opens up in the middle of the air. The mouth of it moves back and forth, like an animal nudging around with its nose, then it starts to approach them. Unbelievably, the ground shakes even harder.

“What am I supposed to do?” Gwen yells to Toshiko. 

The other woman shrugs. “Give it back, I guess.”

Gwen can’t argue there and she throws the device directly into the swirling mass. It bounces around and then disappears. For another moment the thing looms larger, then it swallows closed and the tremors instantly stop. The women breathe a sigh of relief in the stillness.

“Good work, Gwen!” Tosh exclaims.

“You too. We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

“The best.” They share a friendly smile, then leave the building and and walk back to the car. 

“I’m really sorry I got you into trouble with Jack,” Gwen says. “It was wrong of me to put you in that position.”

“He’ll get over it. Owen might not, but I have ways of bringing him ‘round.”

“Oh!” Gwen gives a little eyebrow flick. “Speaking of that, I have some office gossip. I’ll tell you on the way back.”

 

Jack emerges from under his desk, now that the shaking has stopped. The place is a mess. No major structural damage, but lots of things fallen over and broken. So much glass.

“Ianto?” he yells to no answer. “Owen?”

He walks out of his office and starts looking around the shattered hall. “Ianto? Owen?”

His way is blocked by a particularly nasty pile of furniture and equipment. He’s about to skirt around it when he sees a hand sticking out from underneath. It’s just a hand but he knows whose it is.

“Ianto!” he cries, grabbing at the first piece of the debris and pulling it away. He digs it all out, throwing things left and right. He finally finds Ianto, still breathing, but with something sharp embedded in his abdomen. A pool of blood is spreading out of it. Jack tries to stem it somehow.

“Jack?” Owen’s voice calls out from the other side of the hall. “Jack, where are you?”

“Owen, over here, quickly!” Jack yells. “It’s Ianto!”

Owen rushes over to help, efficiently checking the extent of the injuries. 

“Help me move him down to the gurney,” he says to Jack. “Gently.”

The two men carry their injured comrade down to the autopsy room and lay him out. Owen immediately goes to work trying to patch him up. Jack does his best to help. After a while the doctor steps back, his face somber.

“There, well, I’ve stopped the bleeding and stabilized his vitals,” he says sadly. “But… I’m sorry, Jack, the damage to his internal organs is too extensive. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

Jack’s jaw is set and his eyes are welling up.

Owen continues gently. “I can try an adrenaline shot to wake him, if you want to say goodbye, but he’ll be in a lot of pain and possibly in shock.”

“No, don’t do that,” Jack replies. He concentrates on keeping his voice steady. “Is it ready?” he asks with a deep breath.

“Is what ready?”

“Our special project. Is it ready?”

“No, Jack!” Owen is shocked. “You can’t do that. Not without his consent.”

“I just got him back, Owen,” his voice cracks with tears. “I can’t lose him again. Not so soon. Not like this. Please.”

“I can’t. It’s wrong.”

“I DON’T CARE!” Jack yells and sobs at the same time. “I love him. I can finally say that I love him and I don’t know what I’ll do without him.” His face gets hard. “I don’t think anyone wants to know what I’ll do without him,” he adds bitterly. “You have to do this, Owen.”

Owen’s pretty sure he’s going to hate himself for this later, but he nods. “Okay, Jack,” he says. “Let’s get started.”

 

Gwen and Toshiko are laughing when they walk back in, until they see the condition of the Hub.

“Jack?” Gwen yells.

“Owen?” Tosh yells at the same time.

“Down here!” they hear the reply from the autopsy room. They both go running down, to find Jack and Owen standing on either side of Ianto’s gurney, concentrating intently on the task at hand. They’re both wearing white coats smeared with red and there’s an awful lot of blood on the floor. Ianto’s skin is a pale white and the heart monitor next to him is displaying a flatline.

“Oh my god!” Gwen shrieks, both her hands flying to her lips.

“Please be quiet,” Owen says without looking up. “Okay, now Jack, turn the knob -- slowly -- and bring his temperature back up.”

Jack complies, then they all wait breathlessly as the numbers climb up on the thermostat from freezing to normal. After a few moments, the heart monitor beeps. It takes up a steady, regular rhythm.

“Oh thank god,” Tosh sighs with relief.

Jack gently picks up one of Ianto’s hands and holds it.

“What happened?” Gwen asks.

“After you left the whole place started to shake apart,” Owen says. “Things falling. Ianto took a piece of metal to the gut.”

“It was quaking at the warehouse, too,” Tosh replies. “Must have been everywhere.”

“How did you stop it?” Jack asks.

“This kind of hole in the air opened up and we threw the calibrator in,” Gwen tells him. “It all stopped right after that. Whoever they are, I think they’re happy now.”

“Good.”

She wants to ask him if they’re okay with each other, but he still looks very serious standing there next to Ianto and it doesn’t seem like the right time. “Wonder why they were so angry,” she says instead.

“Well, it _is_ a medical device,” he replies. “There were probably lives of their own people at stake. In any case...” 

He’s cut off by a sickeningly steady beep from the monitor. Ianto is flatlining. Owen and Jack freeze in place, and fix each other with a firm gaze.

“Owen!” Tosh cries. “Do something! Help him!”

“There’s nothing more I can do, love,” he says solemnly. “This is it.” He switches off the monitor.

Jack lifts Ianto’s hand to his lips and kisses it, then holds it next to his heart. He closes his eyes.

“Should we…” Gwen starts, but Jack cuts her off with a shushing sound.

“Please, just, not yet,” he says. “Just leave it, for a minute.”

More than a minute ticks by as he stands there, holding on to the limp hand while the others watch him stand vigil. Tosh is crying and Owen holds her. Finally, Gwen can’t stand it any longer.

“Jack, really, we need to....”

“HUUUUOOOAAAAAA,” Ianto heaves a giant breath and sits right up on the gurney. “What happened?” he asks, confused and frightened.

Jack’s face crumples and his head drops over the hand he’s clasping, his shoulders shaking. He’s not up for giving explanations any time soon.

“We lost you, Ianto,” Owen tells him. “But we brought you back.”

“Brought him back how?” Gwen asks, certain that this can’t be what she thinks it is.

“We’ve been working on a little side project,” Owen explains. “It all has to do with your friend Rex Matheson, how all the blood was drained out of his body and replaced with Jack’s, and after that he couldn’t die. Jack asked me to try and replicate the process. Been storing up pints for days now. My idea was to freeze the patient to keep them alive while we opened up the femoral artery, but we didn’t want to say anything until we knew if it would work.”

Tosh looks like she’s going to be sick. “Owen…” she says, “that’s... horrible… and bloody brilliant!”

Owen turns to Ianto. “I’m sorry, mate, I told him you needed to consent to something like that, but he begged me. I just couldn’t say no.”

Ianto is gaping in utter astonishment. In a daze, he looks over at Jack.

“So, now, I’m like you?” he asks.

Jack nods, still unable to speak. In one swift motion Ianto leans over and kisses him passionately. As he pulls away, his eyes are also full of tears.

“All those lifetimes you’re going to live,” he says in amazement, “all those wonders of the universe. I can be there with you?”

Jack smiles and finally gets control of himself. “If you don’t get sick of me first,” he says.

Ianto gets up off the gurney and kisses him again, pressing close this time, making the others uncomfortable.

“We’ll just give you two a minute,” Owen says as he guides the ladies towards the exit.

 

Later they all set to cleaning up the place.

“Ianto, be careful with that broken glass!” Gwen warns.

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?” he replies gleefully. “I could slice my whole arm off if I wanted to.”

“You know it still hurts, right?” Jack asks as he walks up. “And dying hurts even worse, so you still have to be careful.”

“Right,” Ianto responds. “That coming back thing is no picnic, either.”

“No. Gwen, can I see you in my office for a minute?”

She goes resolutely to take her medicine.

“Go ahead and let me have it,” she says when she’s seated. “I won’t argue.”

“I’m not going to yell at you, Gwen. This is who you are and it’s why I recruited you in the first place. You never give up. Just don't hide things from me.”

“Fair enough.”

“No, I asked you here to give you this.” He reaches into a drawer and pulls out a book. It's long and thin, like a scrapbook. He hands it to her. She opens it, and on the first page is mounted a drawing of Anwen.

"I went to a police sketch artist," he says. "I think it's pretty good."

"It's perfect," she whispers, overcome.

"I wrote down as much about her as I could remember, and put some other things in there, too. I've been working on it for a while. I thought, if you wanted, you could add your own memories to it."

"Thank you, Jack," she says in tears, holding the book close to her chest.

He stands up and hugs her tightly.

"And I'm very happy for you," she adds as they break away.

"Thank you. Now comes the hard part -- making it work for all eternity."

"I give it six months."

"You could always join us," he offers, at least partly serious. "Keep the both of us in line. Plenty of my blood to go around."

"I think not," she says with a shudder.

"Hey you two," Ianto says from the door. "If you've gotten to the hugging part of the conversation, you've gotten to the part where you can came back out here and give us a hand."

"Coming, dear," Jack sing-songs sarcastically. Ianto rolls his eyes.

Jack extends his arm for Gwen to take it, and they head back to work.


End file.
